Speaker 1: Tell us where we are right now. We are in
Speaker 1: my treehouse. This is a treehouse. You got a treehouse studio. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is where I made Divide and where I now
Speaker 1: do all my sort of work. While while we're here,
Speaker 1: let me play. Let me play some number five. Number five,
Speaker 1: number five. That was your original Alboration project. Yeah, two
Speaker 1: thousand and oh god, I want to say ten, but
Speaker 1: it actually came out first week of two thousand and eleven.
Speaker 1: So this is before like you were popping, piping. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is actually what what made me pop. How do
Speaker 1: you think I do you think that ship held up?
Speaker 1: I mean, it's still one of It's still one of
Speaker 1: my favorite projects I've done. Okay, I play. I played
Speaker 1: one another one from the top, and that's the project
Speaker 1: that got you signed. Number five. Yeah, well I did.
Speaker 1: I basically did five vps before I got signed, And
Speaker 1: because I did, I did. I was into so much stuff,
Speaker 1: much much like with the project here there was. I
Speaker 1: was inplumed by so much stuff. So I had one
Speaker 1: record that I just did fully with the bands. The
Speaker 1: next record was like what my first album pretty much
Speaker 1: ended up being. And then I did one that was
Speaker 1: just completely acoustic that was all written with this one
Speaker 1: girl as a duet, and then I did a live
Speaker 1: DVD and a live album, all of those, and then
Speaker 1: I did this. So this was number five of the EPs,
Speaker 1: and it was kind of like the momentum of all
Speaker 1: of those that ended up getting me signed was it
Speaker 1: was your thought prices the same when you made number five,
Speaker 1: like you're just gonna work with artists that. Yeah, back then,
Speaker 1: you can only get the artists you could get because
Speaker 1: you wasn't like no, no, because no, because at this
Speaker 1: at this point, Evelyn and Wiley, P Money, Jamie Marcha, Payne,
Speaker 1: Gets Random, Impulse, Way Wretch, Dot Rotten, they were all
Speaker 1: top of their game, like and it was like I
Speaker 1: actually had to like do a lot of convincing because
Speaker 1: I was quite you know, I was a new new artist.
Speaker 1: But what I do is I just turn up at
Speaker 1: like the studio with them, and then I was just persistent.
Speaker 1: It was just like, we have to do a song,
Speaker 1: we have to do a song, we have to do
Speaker 1: a song, and then made it, made it happen. You
Speaker 1: had a DJ Coward level of annoyance. Yeah, But I
Speaker 1: think I've had that same thing on this one. Number six,
Speaker 1: just because you have to be persistent, you have to
Speaker 1: be on people to make it, to make it happen.
Speaker 1: So what so this one got you signed? Or do
Speaker 1: you hope this project though the number six? What do
Speaker 1: you hope number six does for you? When I made this,
Speaker 1: I wasn't I didn't want to be. It wasn't like
Speaker 1: I'm going to get signed by making this. I made
Speaker 1: this because it was so much fun to make, and
Speaker 1: it was all all the artists I wanted to work with,
Speaker 1: and I made these songs that I was just so
Speaker 1: proud to play my friends. And it's pretty much the
Speaker 1: same with this one. If I was like, oh, well,
Speaker 1: it's going to help me do this and help me
Speaker 1: do this, the fact is I've like I've already achieved
Speaker 1: more than I thought I could, so right, and now
Speaker 1: I'm at a point where I'm just having fun. You're
Speaker 1: not as Sharon two kings a part Why the hell
Speaker 1: y'all did a rock record because exactly that exactly. I
Speaker 1: think people do not expect that any time I play
Speaker 1: that to anyone. The first called the first instantly, people
Speaker 1: go instantly. And I love that. I love that we'll
Speaker 1: kind of rocky of the school meal with the heavy metal.
Speaker 1: I think it would just be rock, classic rock, classic rock.
Speaker 1: I mean we did loads of songs and loads of
Speaker 1: different things, but we ended up on that song. And
Speaker 1: it was purely by by by accident with having Chris
Speaker 1: Stapleton and he just seemed the most interesting. So nobody said, hey,
Speaker 1: we should do a rock song. It was just no, well,
Speaker 1: I mean Chris, Chris had the riff. Chris was there
Speaker 1: and then what was it? And he had he played
Speaker 1: it's the riff, which is and then we were like, oh,
Speaker 1: let's let's write write a song about that. Bruno took
Speaker 1: it away and unbeknownst to me, him and Chris had
Speaker 1: got together and fun with it a lot. Throughout throughout
Speaker 1: my whole career, I've never had an excuse to get
Speaker 1: a band, And now that's an excuse to maybe tour
Speaker 1: with the bands, because I think play playing that live
Speaker 1: would be different level. I've seen you live a couple
Speaker 1: of times. That wouldn't be difficult for you on stage
Speaker 1: with just the guitar. You think you can pull it off.
Speaker 1: Oh well, I had an idea to do both. I
Speaker 1: think you know, people like my loop pedal and no
Speaker 1: one's seen with a band, and I think you could
Speaker 1: have a show that incorporate I think it's time to
Speaker 1: have a show that incorporates both of them personally. I
Speaker 1: want to be normal Bruner because I feel like y'all
Speaker 1: have had a similar payers. I remember Bruno in twenty ten,
Speaker 1: but I opened up for him at iTunes Festival, Yeah,
Speaker 1: in twenty eleven, and then I don't know, we just
Speaker 1: we just hung out. I went and guested with him
Speaker 1: a couple of times on tour, Like we've had nights
Speaker 1: out together. It seems like you'll had an organic chemistry together. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean he's a phenomenal writer. Phenomenal writer. I mean
Speaker 1: he's written so many others like he did to see
Speaker 1: Tho Green, Fuck You, and like God, I don't know.
Speaker 1: So yeah, Bruno's just like he's just a talented writer,
Speaker 1: and he's so musically talent. He's played every every instrument
Speaker 1: on that but Jones played the bass, played the guitar.
Speaker 1: Like he's like different level in the studio you really
Speaker 1: respect for I write at the mote like it's like
Speaker 1: the same thing you were listening to Howard Stern yesterday,
Speaker 1: And Howard Stern is like one of the greatest radio personalities.
Speaker 1: You've got to You've got to. You've got to look
Speaker 1: at your peers and the people you look up to,
Speaker 1: and you know, I have a great respect of people
Speaker 1: that can do things that I can't do. When I
Speaker 1: was shocked to find out that you get no help
Speaker 1: with your writing, like you write everything yourself lyrically, Yes,
Speaker 1: but I think I need a lot of help with
Speaker 1: production and making songs, you know. And there'll be songs
Speaker 1: like the A Team and Perfects and stuff like that
Speaker 1: that I'll just go in and I'd do a one
Speaker 1: hundred percent myself. Whereas there'll be a song like Goalway Girl,
Speaker 1: which is quite a collaborative thing. I'll go in with
Speaker 1: a folk band and then we'll all write it together
Speaker 1: with the folk band, but I would write the lyrics
Speaker 1: for that and then it would be shaped in it. Basically,
Speaker 1: did you look you look at other eithers different when
Speaker 1: you find out the radio stuff, only if they have
Speaker 1: nothing to do with it. I just find I'm just
Speaker 1: kind of need to write songs to make me feel
Speaker 1: better about myself. You get out all your demons in
Speaker 1: music and then it kind of clears out your head.
Speaker 1: It's it's like it's exactly therapy I saw Elton john
Speaker 1: car you want to like one of the best song
Speaker 1: writer of this generation. It's very kind of I don't know,
Speaker 1: I like writing songs, but I feel like I'm improving
Speaker 1: day by day by going in the studio people like
Speaker 1: Chris Stapleton and Bruno Mars. You're just expanding your palette
Speaker 1: and learning new things. I think you're growing by just
Speaker 1: living life like order. You get the more experience as
Speaker 1: you get, but you can't you can't. You can't become
Speaker 1: better unless you around people who can teach you things.
Speaker 1: If I just worked in this studio, things would start
Speaker 1: sounding a bit stale after a while. Which is what's
Speaker 1: so great about doing this collaborations project is I've worked
Speaker 1: with so many different people and seeing how like Bruno's
Speaker 1: process versus Travis Scott's process versus Chances process, we'll get
Speaker 1: we'll get onto it. But he literally puts a mike
Speaker 1: up and he just has the verse repeating, and he's
Speaker 1: just there in the studio and it's kind of starts
Speaker 1: off as a mumble and then like words go in
Speaker 1: every now and then, and then like the first sentence
Speaker 1: is done, but the rest of mumble and he'll just
Speaker 1: do it over and over and over again, and then
Speaker 1: the verse has done. The most amazing thing I've seen
Speaker 1: people do it line by line, but in terms of
Speaker 1: like he's memorizing all his mumbles and the cadence of
Speaker 1: the mumbles, and then thinking of the lines, and then
Speaker 1: memorizing the first lines and then getting totin like there
Speaker 1: was no point that he stopped. It was just two
Speaker 1: hours of that and then the verse was done, which
Speaker 1: was a completely different thing for me to see. So
Speaker 1: I'm learning stuff like that every day and since then
Speaker 1: have tried that, tried putting putting, I mean I can't
Speaker 1: do it yet, but putting songs together where you find
Speaker 1: a melody and then you mumble the words and keep going,
Speaker 1: keep going, and then it starts to fit. So it's
Speaker 1: like learning stuff every day from people. So what do
Speaker 1: you learn from Bruno? So as you look at him
Speaker 1: as another amazing songwriter, or there any tricks you got
Speaker 1: from him and it could make you better. We kind
Speaker 1: of have the same approach for a lot of things.
Speaker 1: You know, you throw a lot of ideas at the wall.
Speaker 1: His ideas are just different to mine. When I was
Speaker 1: in there, he was like, look, the reason we're working
Speaker 1: together is we're both trying to get something from each other.
Speaker 1: And if you just play the usual cause that you do,
Speaker 1: you might as well just be working on your own.
Speaker 1: So what would work as your melodies and lyrics over this?
Speaker 1: And then if you have some chords that will go
Speaker 1: over this, then my melodies and lyrics go over this,
Speaker 1: and then that's what makes it interesting. So that chorus
Speaker 1: on the Blow song is you know, a mixture of Chris,
Speaker 1: a mixture of me, and a mixture of Bruno and
Speaker 1: it all kind of came together like that. Basically, do
Speaker 1: you find yourself battling battling him? Oh yeah, massively? Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: that make the amount of arguments, which is kind of like,
Speaker 1: you know, I think at the time he might. I
Speaker 1: think he had two Diamond singles at that point and
Speaker 1: I had one and he and he was just like,
Speaker 1: but I've got two diamond singles and like it. They'd
Speaker 1: be kind of like back and forth like that, and
Speaker 1: then the next time I went in with him, I've
Speaker 1: got two as well. So we've kind of had a
Speaker 1: battle on that front for US world pop star problems,
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ and what's the next South of the Border.
Speaker 1: Why why did you pick those two young ladies to
Speaker 1: collab on network. I've always wanted to make a song
Speaker 1: with Hardi Bi Cardi b just personality wise, even even
Speaker 1: if you just had a talking on the song, like
Speaker 1: I've just I love her, Cherry's obsessed with her. She's
Speaker 1: just I've got some meter review times. She's very animated,
Speaker 1: very lovely, and so that. Yeah, I always wanted her
Speaker 1: on a record. But I met comed in twenty thirteen
Speaker 1: at the VMA's when she was in Fifth Harmony. We've
Speaker 1: kind of always kept in touch and she's I don't
Speaker 1: know if you've met her, but she's very, very very sweet,
Speaker 1: very very nice. It has a Latin flavor, you could
Speaker 1: say that, yeah, you know she's from Cuba. She speaks
Speaker 1: fluent Spanish and Cardi's Dominican. Yes, yeah, And I just
Speaker 1: felt like it was it was a good, good mix.
Speaker 1: Does since since you and Bruno have such a friendly competition,
Speaker 1: when you see him have these records with Cardi, you know,
Speaker 1: does that make you want to do that type of collabiration.
Speaker 1: I definitely saw the Finesse tune and like was like, wow, man, God,
Speaker 1: I wish I had done that, but then I couldn't
Speaker 1: have done it. I can't dance like that, dude. It's
Speaker 1: just it would have been weird. It would have been
Speaker 1: a weird thing. So I feel like that is me,
Speaker 1: and I like Bruno does his thing with Cardi, but
Speaker 1: then Cardi's like Cardi's on a lot of records. She's
Speaker 1: just you know, I like Bruno doing really well because
Speaker 1: it spurs me on to do really well. Hopefully if
Speaker 1: I do well, it spurs him on. It's not like
Speaker 1: there's never a vindictiveness in it. It's just like, oh shit,
Speaker 1: he's doing that. I should I should work harder and
Speaker 1: do this, rather than a like I want to be
Speaker 1: doing better than you. You and Cardie got similar energies
Speaker 1: to her because Cardi is authentically herself and you're authentically yourself.
Speaker 1: You think that's why you gravity toward Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: I just I love how unfiltered she is. You know,
Speaker 1: she literally she's me so media trained not to be
Speaker 1: media trained. You know, like her whole stick is she
Speaker 1: goes on and says whatever she wants and that is
Speaker 1: what works for her, whereas I never had a media
Speaker 1: training either. And I feel like I get to just
Speaker 1: say what I want, and she's successful because she is
Speaker 1: who she is. She's there's no one else that can
Speaker 1: be Cardi B. And there's going to be countless people
Speaker 1: now that try to be Yeah, she had had her
Speaker 1: success and it's going to be fake. Yeah. I feel
Speaker 1: like I was trying to be fake real and you're
Speaker 1: trying to be fake authentically. Yeah, trying to be fake
Speaker 1: cut yeah, yeah, yeah. What's next next is the chance
Speaker 1: to refer from P and B rock song about that's
Speaker 1: my scene. That's all the snow. If you cross hard
Speaker 1: and you cross me cross I made you want to
Speaker 1: get a chance? You want to record a bunch of lady.
Speaker 1: You can just tell just from the way that he
Speaker 1: his approach was to it. His whole verse was like
Speaker 1: this that line we were talking about yesterday, They never
Speaker 1: say hi to me without her Like it's just like
Speaker 1: there's just a you can't teach that level of respect.
Speaker 1: He's obviously brought up with a very very strong, loving mother,
Speaker 1: you know, and probably with a lot of women around him,
Speaker 1: and it's it's it's good. I'll play you what we
Speaker 1: what we actually got the sample from, because it's a
Speaker 1: P and B sample, it's a P and B rock sample. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so freestyle, how is it anything she needs? She can
Speaker 1: call me, don't worry about it. That's my scene of
Speaker 1: that saw me to snow. If you cast her and
Speaker 1: you cost me up. P and B made it a
Speaker 1: hot line. You made it a hot song. That's hard.
Speaker 1: You said it's hard to right about. No, it's easier
Speaker 1: to write about heartbreak than it is about love. But
Speaker 1: I feel like you captured well. No, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I think it's easier to write multiple songs about heartbreak.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's kind of like to find the right
Speaker 1: fucking angle to write a love song about, which isn't
Speaker 1: just you make me feel this way, and it's like
Speaker 1: find it. It's about finding different angles. Now, for me,
Speaker 1: it's not about I've done thinking out loud, I've done perfect,
Speaker 1: I've done the the love songs about finding different angles.
Speaker 1: Now to do that, that's a different type of love song,
Speaker 1: right there. Yeah, that's expressed in love nicely, and I
Speaker 1: think I think my view of it is that because
Speaker 1: it has so many ups and downs in the song,
Speaker 1: you know, there's the bit where it just cuts out
Speaker 1: and then just suddenly you and your girl everyone will
Speaker 1: be doing that. I think it'd be fun. What was
Speaker 1: your lady's reaction when she heard that song? Just say, finally, finally,
Speaker 1: you didn't make a depressing song about me, something we
Speaker 1: can dance to. Yeah. No, she likes it. She likes
Speaker 1: a lot she but she likes um. I think she
Speaker 1: likes the message of it because it's quite. It's quite.
Speaker 1: It makes her feel like badass as well. You know
Speaker 1: you you originally hear the song and it's it sounds
Speaker 1: like it's me being like, I'm going to be protective,
Speaker 1: but actually it's a scaring people might try right now
Speaker 1: because you've got her artist looking like a tough guy. No,
Speaker 1: because you know I'm not. I'm not a tough guy.
Speaker 1: But I've got a security guy. Hey, you know he's
Speaker 1: he's grumpy, so he's going away. What's next? The stormsy
Speaker 1: one to the Sky. Yeah. Yeah, you're such an intriguing
Speaker 1: artist because you perhaps sing R and B, but it
Speaker 1: seems like UK rap has influenced you just as much
Speaker 1: as all that other stuff. Yeah. Well, I think I
Speaker 1: think rap in general, but UK rap was you know,
Speaker 1: the first bit intro for me into this was me
Speaker 1: doing that collaborations thing. And I've been working with UK
Speaker 1: artists since since since then, you know, we've kind of
Speaker 1: been friends for a very very long time, but never
Speaker 1: really worked together. He did he remake Shape of You
Speaker 1: for me, but never really worked together on a song.
Speaker 1: Everything happens for a reason, and I feel like this
Speaker 1: happened for a reason. What's the next next is the
Speaker 1: y ever tune, which I'd like to say. I played
Speaker 1: this to Charlemagne yesterday and I played him yeb just
Speaker 1: just before I played in the song called Evergreen, and
Speaker 1: he was obviously blown away because she's amazing. But then
Speaker 1: I do my verse on this song. He's like, I
Speaker 1: can tell she's just going to come and body you
Speaker 1: about the body, and I was right. She bodied you
Speaker 1: on this record. And this is why you're doing the interview,
Speaker 1: because you're honest. My lungs black, my hardest, pure god,
Speaker 1: we did that here actually really, Yeah, thank you for
Speaker 1: introducing me to Hurry Yabba. She's phenomenal and she boded
Speaker 1: you on that record. Thank you. But you know that,
Speaker 1: Like that's right. But I think, as I said to
Speaker 1: you when the song was playing, you should only be
Speaker 1: working with people that you think are better than you,
Speaker 1: so it helps you grow as a person. Like when
Speaker 1: I the song wo Beyonce, she definitely bodied me on
Speaker 1: that did the song with hell like he definitely like
Speaker 1: these people are the peak of their game. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, perfect as a lord. Debatable. That was a
Speaker 1: good back and forth. Oh, I mean that was This
Speaker 1: is a good back and forth too. But you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: but I feel like, you know, I'm not I don't
Speaker 1: want to do I don't want to I don't want
Speaker 1: to have a feature that isn't amazing. She hit a
Speaker 1: note on there. I'm like, I don't even know what
Speaker 1: there was. Yeah, it sound like you could have been
Speaker 1: like some offects on or something like. Yeah. But like
Speaker 1: if like if that had you know, someone that it
Speaker 1: didn't compliment it, I don't know. I feel like it
Speaker 1: if you have a song that you think is good
Speaker 1: and you put someone that you think is amazing, it
Speaker 1: instantly makes the song incredible. So yeah, it was. I
Speaker 1: had taken her on tour in twenty seventeen, so we
Speaker 1: were in touch anyway, and she came to see my
Speaker 1: Wembley show recently and we reconnected there and we've been
Speaker 1: on email and she sent me demos of her songs
Speaker 1: that I've listened to and stuff like that, so we've
Speaker 1: always we've always had a really cool relationship. I got
Speaker 1: on the phone with her one day and I was like,
Speaker 1: I have the song, send it to her. She sent
Speaker 1: back her verse and then and then I was like,
Speaker 1: we have to get in and make sure that the
Speaker 1: chorus lifts and we can sing it to and it
Speaker 1: sounds like we've actually been in the same room and
Speaker 1: made it. Something like that you can't really make remotely.
Speaker 1: You have to be in the same room. Sometimes I
Speaker 1: play people artists and some people will be like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, been the best thing the world, and some
Speaker 1: people like I just don't get it. But there's no
Speaker 1: one that doesn't get her. It's so easy to get.
Speaker 1: It's just like, Wow, she's incredibly talented. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: people like her just let me know that. It's just
Speaker 1: a matter of timing, because you know, you know, when
Speaker 1: when you put me on her and I pulled it
Speaker 1: over Green on Instagram, the people in my comments like, oh,
Speaker 1: you're late. Oh I listened to that song a lot
Speaker 1: of times. Yeah, but there's but there's late, and there's
Speaker 1: there's late, like there's you know, there's people that would
Speaker 1: have been on Travis Scott from the very, very very beginning.
Speaker 1: You know that would be like, oh, you're late if
Speaker 1: you got into him at goosebumps or whatever. It's so
Speaker 1: I think you know you can't be there from the beginning.
Speaker 1: Was she willing to be as open as you were?
Speaker 1: Did you have to kind of like push her? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Well I said it. I said it on on on
Speaker 1: the phone. I said, like for me, for me, I
Speaker 1: was writing stuff that was embarrassing to me, you know,
Speaker 1: my deepest secrets that And I said, if you're if,
Speaker 1: if you're going to write it, just make sure that
Speaker 1: if each line is uncomfortable for you to write, we
Speaker 1: will be like, oh gosh, I'll be telling people this.
Speaker 1: That's the kind of vibe I wants you to have. It.
Speaker 1: Is it healthy to think that the best of you
Speaker 1: is another person? Though maybe not, but I'm sure you
Speaker 1: think some of the best parts of you were your wife,
Speaker 1: And I think it's it might it might not be healthy,
Speaker 1: but I feel like it's a human flaw. But to
Speaker 1: be like, like I'm constantly wake up every day with
Speaker 1: Cherry and I'm just like, why the fuck are you
Speaker 1: with me? Like you could be you literally be with
Speaker 1: who who, whoever you want to You've chosen, You've chosen me,
Speaker 1: And like I'm saying, all of the things that I
Speaker 1: think are wrong with me, but you still want to
Speaker 1: be with me. And I just find that amazing. But
Speaker 1: doesn't they keep you in a content state of anxiety,
Speaker 1: like constantly questioning whether or not no, no, because no,
Speaker 1: because she doesn't she doesn't add fuel to the flame.
Speaker 1: I think. I think I think if she was like, well, yeah, why,
Speaker 1: then then you get anxiety. But I think it's quite
Speaker 1: a sweet thing to I think it's quite sweet to
Speaker 1: always think that the person you're with is out of
Speaker 1: your league. Imagine imagine if you were like with your wife, like, yeah,
Speaker 1: you're with me because I'm fucking amazing. Like it's like,
Speaker 1: it's it's quite a sweet thing. It keeps you on
Speaker 1: your tools. Yeah, and you don't ever take it from granted. Yeah, mate,
Speaker 1: And that's the way. That would be the worst thing,
Speaker 1: to just just be Yeah, to take it for granted.
Speaker 1: And I tour a lot. I spend a lot of
Speaker 1: time on the road, and I think I have to
Speaker 1: go on the road and have this belief that you know,
Speaker 1: with this is meant to be what's next eminem fifty cent?
Speaker 1: Remember the name? Yeah, I work wanted to make it
Speaker 1: big ship. When you know a record is completely done,
Speaker 1: I don't if you know. If it's up to me,
Speaker 1: I keep I'll keep tweaking it. It's weird, like the
Speaker 1: musical side of it. If it sounds good, it's done.
Speaker 1: Like for me, like even if the guitar is like
Speaker 1: slightly out of tune, or like the vocals are a
Speaker 1: bit rough, Like, if it sounds good, it's done. But
Speaker 1: when it comes to mixing, it's just I don't know.
Speaker 1: You have to listen to it on so many different speakers.
Speaker 1: So we've got like two different speakers here, and then
Speaker 1: I'll usually do a mix on like just regular headphones.
Speaker 1: I want it to be good on so many different things,
Speaker 1: Like it could sound amazing and hearing you take it
Speaker 1: in the car and it's all kind of so yeah,
Speaker 1: that's when you don't know it's done. But usually the
Speaker 1: deadline comes and then someone takes and it comes up.
Speaker 1: I feel like that record is like a childhood dreamy
Speaker 1: or like the Pub is the Pub in New York.
Speaker 1: I had two songs I always wanted to do with Eminem.
Speaker 1: I was like, if I ever get to work with Eminem,
Speaker 1: that's two songs I want to do, and it's one's
Speaker 1: like an introspective storytelling one and one is something that's
Speaker 1: kind of is more of a nod towards some of
Speaker 1: the cheekier songs on the Marshal Mathers LP or like
Speaker 1: the Eminem Show. And I was like, when I when
Speaker 1: I when I work, when I work with him, because
Speaker 1: in my mind, I was like, it's always going to happen.
Speaker 1: I've just gotta wait. I'll do those two songs. And
Speaker 1: one led to the other. So I did the River
Speaker 1: Song with him for the Revival record, and then through
Speaker 1: that got to know him and then I was able
Speaker 1: to sit down with him and Detroit and approach him
Speaker 1: with this song and it didn't feel weird. And now
Speaker 1: and now I feel like I've ticked my two boxes.
Speaker 1: It feels yeah, it feels good. And you're verse you
Speaker 1: talk about people will en being your private leves. You
Speaker 1: started to go a little Eminem on the blogs on
Speaker 1: ever just a little bit. It was actually before me
Speaker 1: and Cherry got married, and I knew that we'd be
Speaker 1: married by the point that the song came out and
Speaker 1: so I said, watch how the lyrics might get twisted.
Speaker 1: My wife always read the looks better without the lipstick.
Speaker 1: And I was just like, someone's going to hear that
Speaker 1: they're married, and I didn't know how that would be construed,
Speaker 1: but obviously it's already come out. The other thing I
Speaker 1: think it's funny, is I say I mentioned Ipswich in it,
Speaker 1: which is a town near here, which is like Eminem
Speaker 1: would never ever know ways, which is so to be
Speaker 1: able to have a song with Eminem and fifty cent
Speaker 1: and the first line is yeah, yeah, I was born
Speaker 1: just to be able to have that. Just like whenever
Speaker 1: I go to Ipswich now, they'll just be someone will
Speaker 1: be like thanks, man. That's how it is in America.
Speaker 1: If you shout out a certain compute or a certain hood,
Speaker 1: they'd be like, yeah, oh good lookers. Was the same
Speaker 1: thing over here. Yeah, And I mean, you know, there's
Speaker 1: only there's only a few musicians that have ever come
Speaker 1: out of Suffolk as a county. The whole county let alone,
Speaker 1: shouted out Ipswich. So I feel like it's so you're
Speaker 1: get free fish and chips Inwitch. I'd never get that.
Speaker 1: They'd be like, you can afford it made. So I
Speaker 1: made that song in Sweden with Max Martin, who's a
Speaker 1: who's a really big songwriter producer, and I was writing
Speaker 1: my verse and then cheekly at the end of it,
Speaker 1: I just said, right, Max, I want to like, I
Speaker 1: want to wish this into existence, like it's um listen
Speaker 1: to my vestigating I would work. Yeah, I wanted to
Speaker 1: make it. Yeah. Yeah. So at the end of the verse,
Speaker 1: I said, I want way more than I've already got
Speaker 1: to give me a song with Eminem and fifty cent.
Speaker 1: And I said to Max, I was like, I'm going,
Speaker 1: I'm going to London tomorrow to go and guest with Eminem,
Speaker 1: so I'll ask him about the tune then and see
Speaker 1: if he can get fifty cent on it. And I
Speaker 1: walked in Eminem's dressing room and it's him in fifty
Speaker 1: cent in there, and I was like, this, this has
Speaker 1: to be, has to be meant to be. I think
Speaker 1: they were quite they were quite weird about it because
Speaker 1: I was like, do you believe in fate and was
Speaker 1: trying to make decision. Yeah, you know, I did walk
Speaker 1: in and I was like, look, I'm I'm a great
Speaker 1: believer of things. Things are meant to be the way
Speaker 1: they're meant to be, because that like, you can't you
Speaker 1: can't get to my stage in my career and think
Speaker 1: that it's all down to some like just hard work
Speaker 1: or just this like this definitely definitely things that I
Speaker 1: was in the right place at the right time and
Speaker 1: this and that. So it was actually quite a cool
Speaker 1: meeting because I played him the song and I thought
Speaker 1: we'd record it then, but he was just like, leave it,
Speaker 1: leave it with me, because he writes and writes and
Speaker 1: writes and writes and goes over. So we just sat
Speaker 1: and chop. It was the day after Kamakazi had come out,
Speaker 1: and no one knew it was coming out, and then
Speaker 1: suddenly it came out and I was like, fuck, I'm
Speaker 1: seeing him tomorrow. I get to kind of like talk
Speaker 1: to him about it. Ya ya, y'all got a lot
Speaker 1: of similarities in a weirdo because I really relate to
Speaker 1: him and we have such different backgrounds, but I really
Speaker 1: relate to him, and even even even even more so now,
Speaker 1: like as a kid, I related to him just because
Speaker 1: I felt like a bit of an outcast. But even
Speaker 1: even now, like the way that we've we've both stuck
Speaker 1: in our hometowns. We both we both live here. We
Speaker 1: both got to a level where it's you're so famous
Speaker 1: you cannot go outside, and so you have to kind
Speaker 1: of live in your little compound. And having a conversation
Speaker 1: with him about it and how he tours now, and
Speaker 1: it's like, I'm kind of looking at the way he
Speaker 1: does things, being like, that's how I should do it.
Speaker 1: When I'm like, because he's got kids and stuff, and
Speaker 1: he's a very very good father and he's there the
Speaker 1: whole time. But my greatest fear is not raising my
Speaker 1: kids because I'm constantly on tour. So what he does
Speaker 1: is he makes an album and then he goes out
Speaker 1: and does like a month of touring, and then he
Speaker 1: comes back home and then that's that's it. And I
Speaker 1: can talk to him on a level and he can
Speaker 1: understand where I'm coming from, and I can understand where
Speaker 1: he's coming from. But yeah, that's how I'm menting on
Speaker 1: the same where you just described it defective if you
Speaker 1: are still in your hometown. Yeah, And it's like a
Speaker 1: level of self isolation, you know what i mean. Jerry's
Speaker 1: trying to get me away from it. She's scared that
Speaker 1: like the pub and the cinema, and like, just I
Speaker 1: just I've like made it that my friends just can
Speaker 1: come here out rather than me going out. So Cherry's
Speaker 1: always trying to get me to go out more and more,
Speaker 1: but it just gets to take her out in time
Speaker 1: and let her, let her get mobbed, and then she'll
Speaker 1: be like, you know, she's seen it, she's seen it,
Speaker 1: and she doesn't she doesn't obviously doesn't like it, but
Speaker 1: she's like, it's not healthy to do this. So how
Speaker 1: do you stay at all? What's going on? Because like
Speaker 1: your music, doesn't that sound like you're I listened to
Speaker 1: your show every single day stuff like that. I read
Speaker 1: the news every single day. I like keep I keep
Speaker 1: up to date. I'm just I don't know. I lost
Speaker 1: the ability to be able to go out to a
Speaker 1: supermarket and buy a loaf of bread about not even
Speaker 1: that long ago, like three years ago, and it's just
Speaker 1: it's just different now there's certain places I can go.
Speaker 1: That's why I live here, Like people around here treat
Speaker 1: me pretty normally. But like London, because it's London such
Speaker 1: a melting pot of so many different people, it's like
Speaker 1: you can never sort of preempst what people are going
Speaker 1: to be like. It was definitely very, very fun to
Speaker 1: work with Eminem. Again, if you could have told twelve
Speaker 1: year old me I would rap on a song with
Speaker 1: Eminem when I was older, Like, you know, so many
Speaker 1: people say that I can't rap, but I'm allowed on
Speaker 1: a song with Eminem and fifty cent rappers, So like,
Speaker 1: why does it matter twelve year old you was now
Speaker 1: twenty eight year old. Juice of this still around all
Speaker 1: as you a later. Yeah, I've played as people of
Speaker 1: my generation who have that, Like Shade Records was just
Speaker 1: us when we were like fourteen, We were just obsessed
Speaker 1: with it. So playing that to like my best friends
Speaker 1: now are all excited about it, But there'll be people
Speaker 1: from your generation. They're excited about it, and they're people
Speaker 1: from a completely different generation who maybe haven't they're not
Speaker 1: really that aware of it, but maybe they've heard Shape
Speaker 1: of You and like Shape of You that will listen
Speaker 1: to this project have a different impact on somebody that's
Speaker 1: my age or because I'm thinking, damn, fifteen, am I
Speaker 1: such an underrated combination because you start thinking about like
Speaker 1: patiently waiting, you know what I mean, all the songs
Speaker 1: that they've done together and you're like, okay, I like
Speaker 1: hearing that was why I really really wanted to get
Speaker 1: the two of them. I could have just done that
Speaker 1: with with them, but it was like, I mean, the
Speaker 1: hook that I wrote is so fifty cents. It just
Speaker 1: had to it had to be the had to be
Speaker 1: that one thing that's not missing the doctor Dre dramas
Speaker 1: with I know, I just think it's weird to go
Speaker 1: with someone with a complete track and just be like,
Speaker 1: please just put your name to I think if Dr
Speaker 1: J does end up watching this, which who knows if
Speaker 1: if if he will, but like, he is someone I
Speaker 1: would love to work with, and I wouldn't feel comfortable
Speaker 1: being like, here's a song, put your name to it.
Speaker 1: I'd want to go in and create a song. Bible
Speaker 1: record a lot of tool at a party. I don't
Speaker 1: want to be and I don't ever wear. What made
Speaker 1: you want to reach under Bible? Right now? Bieber just
Speaker 1: got married. I just got married. That song is about
Speaker 1: being at industry event with the woman you love, or
Speaker 1: even put the person you love and kind of being like,
Speaker 1: fuck this, let's just have fun ourselves. And I was
Speaker 1: like it was actually Cherry's idea because she was. She
Speaker 1: was like, oh, why don't you get Bieber? Like perfect
Speaker 1: for this fits it? And you know, I have quite
Speaker 1: a good relationship with him. I met him at Ze
Speaker 1: one hundred thing. He came up and said, oh, I'm
Speaker 1: a big fan, and I was like, wow, have you
Speaker 1: heard my music? So we kept in touch. I wrote
Speaker 1: some songs for him and with him for his project.
Speaker 1: You know, we've just hung out a bunch of times.
Speaker 1: I want to I want to work with Bieber. He's
Speaker 1: got one of these voices that just works on anything,
Speaker 1: and he's got personality on when he thinks. Were you
Speaker 1: ever a social person? Because it seems like you're a
Speaker 1: social which you only getting antisocial industry functions. So I
Speaker 1: used to be super social industry functions I used my
Speaker 1: My hobby was to go out to things and meet
Speaker 1: people that I admired and then go out and drink
Speaker 1: with them and end up at a bar. That was
Speaker 1: not my favorite thing to do. So you know, I
Speaker 1: kind of like ended up meeting all all my musical
Speaker 1: heroes and go out to bars with them and having
Speaker 1: fun with them. And then it's just now when I
Speaker 1: go to these events, it's I just have social anxiety.
Speaker 1: I just can't. I hate large groups of people, which
Speaker 1: I run it because I played shows for a living,
Speaker 1: but I just don't. I feel claustrophobic and I don't
Speaker 1: like being around too many people. You think people it's
Speaker 1: because you are a sharing and people demand too much
Speaker 1: of you. Yeah, but it isn't even that. I don't
Speaker 1: even mind talking to people. I have no problem with
Speaker 1: having a conversation with people. It's just when people like
Speaker 1: film me and shit and just kind of stare at me,
Speaker 1: it's just makes me feel weird because it makes me
Speaker 1: feel like I'm not human. You coming up and having
Speaker 1: a conversation with me makes me feel human, even if
Speaker 1: we've never met, even if you just come up. And
Speaker 1: the thing that instantly shuts me off is having a
Speaker 1: moment like that with someone that's so human and so
Speaker 1: nice and at the end being like, oh but I
Speaker 1: can have a picture, and it's like it kind of
Speaker 1: then puts you back down to earth and it now
Speaker 1: then you're just you're just that. You're literally just fifteen
Speaker 1: lights on Instagram and you're that's that's what you are.
Speaker 1: It makes you wonder if the conversation Yea we're having
Speaker 1: was even yeah, because sometimes sometimes I have these conversations
Speaker 1: with people in this where was it? I was it
Speaker 1: a Marilyn Manson show and this guy just came up
Speaker 1: to me and he literally just shook my hand and
Speaker 1: when I like your music man, and then just and
Speaker 1: I was like, wow, that was like such a short
Speaker 1: thing and such a simple thing, but that meant so much. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So I think I get kind of anxiety because you know,
Speaker 1: if I was eating in a restaurant now, it's I
Speaker 1: would prefer to have a private room because if I'm
Speaker 1: eating in the room with everyone, I get people filming
Speaker 1: me eat my food while I'm with my wife. It's
Speaker 1: just I've just find it. But it's a bit. It's
Speaker 1: you feel you feel like a zoo animal, and I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't mean to be like complaining because I have
Speaker 1: a very very cool job and life, but if I
Speaker 1: can avoid it, I will. Yeah. I wouldn't want nobody
Speaker 1: to record you eating fish and chips because let me
Speaker 1: feel like able, but you eat like one as well,
Speaker 1: Thank you very much. If you could have the success
Speaker 1: without the theme, you would would you take that? I
Speaker 1: think my success has happened because I'm so recognizable you know,
Speaker 1: it's like I make good well I think i'll make
Speaker 1: good music, but I make people that music that people like.
Speaker 1: But you can, you can remember who I am, and
Speaker 1: it's something in my own fucking fault as well. Look
Speaker 1: at all these tattoos I've got, and then I start
Speaker 1: wearing glasses again, and then that's just another thing to
Speaker 1: make me more more recognizable. So I definitely don't help
Speaker 1: myself in that. What's the next song, my brother? The
Speaker 1: next song is called Antisocial and it's the Travis Scott one.
Speaker 1: It sounds cleaner, don't touch me? What's that recond about? It?
Speaker 1: Sound self explainatory, but probably what we were talking about earlier,
Speaker 1: having the anxiety of being in clubs. How often do
Speaker 1: you get in the more you don't want to be
Speaker 1: bothered every day every day? So I live here every
Speaker 1: single day. I live here. Yeah, but when you go out,
Speaker 1: you know that I'm Mary. Yeah. No, when I like,
Speaker 1: I just have to be in a frame of mind,
Speaker 1: like when I go to an award show, I'm like,
Speaker 1: right today, like it's just happening, Like I'm not I'm
Speaker 1: not going to get angry anxiety because this just has
Speaker 1: to happen today I don't know if it just creeps
Speaker 1: up on you and then it's just there the hat
Speaker 1: load or signal to people that you don't want to
Speaker 1: be bothered, that you letting them know, like, oh dude,
Speaker 1: you see me out of my hadlaw. Well, that's what
Speaker 1: I'm trying to say. Yeah, that's what I'm trying to say. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's good. That's a good signal, and that's like you should. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but I don't really I don't really go out to
Speaker 1: clubs anyway. I used to when you know, Cherry used
Speaker 1: to live in New York, so I used to live
Speaker 1: the Inner Apartment and we used to go out like
Speaker 1: most most nights. But it was different then as well.
Speaker 1: Shape of You brought me to a different level of fame.
Speaker 1: Like I thought. I thought I was like at my peak,
Speaker 1: and then suddenly it was like a completely different world.
Speaker 1: It's the world of your Beyonce's and your jay Z's
Speaker 1: and your Dell's and it's just to suddenly there's so
Speaker 1: much interest. You know, how hard did to protect your energy?
Speaker 1: I'm talking about you, your your mental world, being your
Speaker 1: your mental speech. Well I found, I find, I find
Speaker 1: I've been working on it for the past eight eight years,
Speaker 1: and whether whether it be getting rid of a phone
Speaker 1: and only answering emails like you know, twice a day,
Speaker 1: or whether it's like cutting down my friendship group to
Speaker 1: the bare, bare, bare minimum just so I trust everyone,
Speaker 1: or whether it's living in the countryside in the middle
Speaker 1: of nowhere and kind of closed off a bit from reality.
Speaker 1: I think all of these little things are in place
Speaker 1: to protect this. I think my mind and it's all working.
Speaker 1: I think it's all working. I think if I lived
Speaker 1: in central central London in less Less Square or Mayfair
Speaker 1: or something like that, and then hanging out with people
Speaker 1: that I'm not really sure whether they're friends with me
Speaker 1: for who I am or who I am you know,
Speaker 1: or you'll never you'll never know a death fields like again,
Speaker 1: especially with the new people that are coming to your life.
Speaker 1: You'll never know of there like you y like, yeah,
Speaker 1: but I don't ever really let people. I like, I
Speaker 1: like let people in from a from a let's like
Speaker 1: hang out out place like that. You know, these these
Speaker 1: boys have come to film now when we hung out
Speaker 1: in the pub yesterday, like there's there's letting in and
Speaker 1: there's there's letting in. You know, when you had that
Speaker 1: conversation with Travis about their record. Did he understand where
Speaker 1: he was coming from the hall? Yeah, because I think
Speaker 1: he he has it and here we're talking about it.
Speaker 1: I think he's very lucky with you know, the girl
Speaker 1: that he's with. He says that, you know that they
Speaker 1: have a similar thing where they just have their little
Speaker 1: little circle, but he's with the biggest. Yeah. But I
Speaker 1: don't know. I think in the world almost Yeah, but
Speaker 1: I think they're all different on they they all want
Speaker 1: different things. Um, yeah, I don't really know. I didn't
Speaker 1: really know. But he he struck me as someone that
Speaker 1: I had a lot of comment in common with. Basically,
Speaker 1: you know, he doesn't He doesn't seem to me to
Speaker 1: be the type of person that's chasing fame. I think
Speaker 1: it's all it's all to better himself as an artist.
Speaker 1: What's the next record? Next record is Beautiful People, Beautiful
Speaker 1: People featuring a lad Well. Why could lead for this
Speaker 1: particular regged you don't think he's a beautiful person? No,
Speaker 1: he didn't know. I mean a couple of reasons. His
Speaker 1: voice is so crisp and warm and soulful, but in
Speaker 1: a very weird way. He's got he's got runs that
Speaker 1: aren't soul runs. He's got runs that are more folk music.
Speaker 1: Like he kind of he kind of he's a soul
Speaker 1: singer who sings like a folk artist is It's a
Speaker 1: very he sings in a very unique way. But that
Speaker 1: song for me is warmth. It just feels cozy, and
Speaker 1: that sounds weird to say. His voice is cozy as well,
Speaker 1: but that was like my initial thing. He's definitely the
Speaker 1: same as me. He doesn't really strike me as someone
Speaker 1: who's glitz and glam. Well, how unhappy were you living
Speaker 1: in early Miserable? I hated it. I hated it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm now like I like going to LA because I
Speaker 1: go in for like three days and I see people
Speaker 1: I love and then I'm gone. But it's the same everywhere.
Speaker 1: Like I was miserable when I lived in New York
Speaker 1: as well, because it's just I just have to be home.
Speaker 1: It's like there's a book. There's a book that I
Speaker 1: read called His Dark Materials, and it's about parallel worlds
Speaker 1: and you basically there's this guy that has ane that
Speaker 1: can cut into other worlds and his dad's discovered the
Speaker 1: worlds before him, and his dad ended up dying because
Speaker 1: he was away from his world for so long and
Speaker 1: it justly drained him being in this other world. And
Speaker 1: for me, it's like being in not just England, but
Speaker 1: being in Suffolk just keeps my Even on tour, I'll
Speaker 1: like come back here and I'll feel revitalized and just
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not American. I don't belong in America.
Speaker 1: Just like you, living here, you'd probably get sad at
Speaker 1: some point and be like, I need to go back
Speaker 1: to Carolina, or I need to go back to Jack.
Speaker 1: Get fair as hurl him in here between all the
Speaker 1: beer and the fish and chips. I'm fair as fuck.
Speaker 1: Was there ever a moment where you felt like you
Speaker 1: were about to conform and become one of the beautiful people?
Speaker 1: I definitely did, though, I definitely did for like, yeah,
Speaker 1: for like six months, I was that was it. I
Speaker 1: was in and I was hanging out with fucking people
Speaker 1: that were on Disney shows once upon a time, and
Speaker 1: we were like, you know, hanging out in backyards. Every day.
Speaker 1: I'd meet someone new and I'd be like, oh, this
Speaker 1: is so and so who was on this movie? And
Speaker 1: then so and so who did this song? And just
Speaker 1: I don't know you kind of you kind of get
Speaker 1: sucked up in that world and there's always a different
Speaker 1: event to go to. You go to one Oak, or
Speaker 1: you go to fucking is it beatsy bellows, and there's
Speaker 1: there's always something on and it's just that every single day,
Speaker 1: every single day, and it just I just felt myself
Speaker 1: getting a bit drained from it. Why are they hard
Speaker 1: for people to be themselves in the industry? And does
Speaker 1: the industry allowed it? Yes, it does, yeah, but you
Speaker 1: have to have success being yourself. So it's quite easy
Speaker 1: for me to be myself because I've been every every
Speaker 1: step of the way, every time i'd be myself, I've
Speaker 1: had success in it. But I think it's hard when
Speaker 1: you've had a lot of success musically, maybe doing something
Speaker 1: that you didn't leave in one hundred percent. You know,
Speaker 1: sometimes the success that you find isn't actually you being yourself.
Speaker 1: But also I think it's the fake it till you
Speaker 1: make your attitude of if you let people think you're successful,
Speaker 1: then you will eventually become successful, but you have to
Speaker 1: really put that on. I think I just think being
Speaker 1: yourself is so powerful and I feel like a beautiful
Speaker 1: person without sounding weird about it, but because of it.
Speaker 1: I have now a confidence in myself because because of
Speaker 1: being myself, all of these great things have happened. So
Speaker 1: now I can I can walk into it an awards
Speaker 1: show addressed however I want, and be super confident about
Speaker 1: it because it's like I've I've done what I because
Speaker 1: to achieved without compromising. Imagine like when you were standing
Speaker 1: next to Beyonce thege performing perfit great moment in Johannesburg.
Speaker 1: If you if you're paying attention to what you should
Speaker 1: actually be painting attile, which is just a talent, You're like, damn,
Speaker 1: that was a great due. But then you go look
Speaker 1: online everybody's clowning you because how you looked standing next
Speaker 1: to her what you were wearing. Well, well, I know,
Speaker 1: but I think the main argument was just men and
Speaker 1: women's stands standards being held. The main thing was just like,
Speaker 1: look at this, He's allowed to wear that and she
Speaker 1: is allowed to wear that, when really what they should
Speaker 1: have been saying is like they've both made a choice
Speaker 1: to do this, like Beyonce and wear whatever the hell
Speaker 1: she wants, and I can wear whatever the hell I want,
Speaker 1: and that is because we've we've worked to be where
Speaker 1: we are to be able to do that. I quite
Speaker 1: I quite liked that. I found that quite quite funny
Speaker 1: because it was it was ridiculous. You look at it
Speaker 1: and you're like, yeah, actually that's pretty weird. And like
Speaker 1: the skate company that I was wearing the T shirt
Speaker 1: off were like really excited about it because it was
Speaker 1: on every single blog in the world and they were
Speaker 1: having people by the T shirt. They wanted to send
Speaker 1: one to Beyonce, but I was like, I don't know
Speaker 1: if she'd I always say this is the kids that
Speaker 1: get meet. A lot of kids and their dads are like,
Speaker 1: they're going through a tough time at school, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: although it's like super tough. Now, that's the best thing
Speaker 1: that can happen for you. If you fit in. You're
Speaker 1: just boring, you know, you're just you're just one of
Speaker 1: many people. If you're like there was this one kid
Speaker 1: the other day and she was like proper out there,
Speaker 1: proper quirky, and I was like, you're going to be
Speaker 1: such an interesting adult and you're going to do such
Speaker 1: an interesting job because you're you're allowed to be artistic
Speaker 1: and don't let anyone fucking dim your light, like you
Speaker 1: should always shine as as as bright as that. But
Speaker 1: it's about instilling confidence in people. And I think me
Speaker 1: having success, I can say to her, look, I was
Speaker 1: really weird and I've managed to have success. So if
Speaker 1: you just carry on doing you you're you're you're going
Speaker 1: to have the same thing. Yeah, it's like wife been
Speaker 1: in when you're born to stand out. Like That's why
Speaker 1: I feel like all of us have our very own
Speaker 1: unique DNA. They can't be duplicated. There's there's no one
Speaker 1: in the world that can do what you do, but
Speaker 1: there is someone in the world that's going to try
Speaker 1: and they're going to fail because they should be doing
Speaker 1: what they do best. Absolutely. So the next song is
Speaker 1: I don't want your money with her? Fuck your money?
Speaker 1: You really wash your time slicely Yeah, And I find
Speaker 1: myself always always thinking like why I'm out on the
Speaker 1: road as much as I am, and now I always
Speaker 1: come back to the conclusion is because I love it.
Speaker 1: But you know, there's there's some something has to give,
Speaker 1: because you know, I'm starting starting a life with Cherry
Speaker 1: and I'm not twenty anymore. I can't go on the
Speaker 1: road for three years and not come home. Do you
Speaker 1: have guilt? Because you're not around, no, because I think
Speaker 1: I think that's I think that's unhealthy because I'm only
Speaker 1: not around because I'm living my dream trying to achieve,
Speaker 1: And I think it's unhealthy to feel guilty about wanting success.
Speaker 1: But I definitely I feel like I'm missing out. I don't.
Speaker 1: I think there's not so much guilt and that, but
Speaker 1: I definitely feel like I'm missing out on a lot
Speaker 1: of things. You know, But it wasn't just with when
Speaker 1: I was with Cherry. It was like I missed like everything,
Speaker 1: go one of my friend's birthday parties or events or
Speaker 1: New Years or stuff stuff like that. So I feel
Speaker 1: like parents getting older. Yeah, well, actually I mean saying
Speaker 1: that like that my success has allowed them to slow down.
Speaker 1: And you know, my dad doesn't work anymore and he
Speaker 1: can come out and talk. I actually had more quality
Speaker 1: time with my dad now because it's allowed that to happen.
Speaker 1: At what point did you realize it wasn't about money,
Speaker 1: it was about you know, your time? At what point
Speaker 1: did you realize that sounds a bit ridiculous. But when
Speaker 1: you discover something like a private jet and you're like,
Speaker 1: I can buy another day with Cherry, I could I
Speaker 1: can wait till tomorrow and fly home at five pm.
Speaker 1: Or I can book a jet now and I can
Speaker 1: fly home and I can gain an entire day. When
Speaker 1: when I was like, money isn't the object, but time
Speaker 1: it's you know, I'd rather I'd rather spend more time
Speaker 1: with you than save more money. Basically, if other ethnic
Speaker 1: because you need the money, yeah, you'd be able to
Speaker 1: create those those opportunities, and that's quite you know, that's
Speaker 1: a very sort of first world problem have. I will
Speaker 1: always turn down every single offer for like New Year's
Speaker 1: Eve gigs, just because like I'd rather spend it with
Speaker 1: my family and friends. And it happened very early on
Speaker 1: in my career because I never wanted for much, and
Speaker 1: I've i achieved a level of success financially very early
Speaker 1: on that I was happy with. So ever since then,
Speaker 1: I can now can't be bought because I don't need it, Like,
Speaker 1: but that isn't because I've now doing a stadium. So
Speaker 1: that was like back then doing theaters, I was like, well,
Speaker 1: I don't fucking earn by playing the songs I want
Speaker 1: to play. Why would I need to be able to
Speaker 1: be bought basically, And you said, you know, you go
Speaker 1: on a road because you love going on the road. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I really love it. So there ever a time where
Speaker 1: you have to ask yourself, what do you love more?
Speaker 1: Do I love going on the road or do I
Speaker 1: love my wife? Um no, because again she she understands
Speaker 1: and she comes out on the I mean she's got
Speaker 1: an office job, so she doesn't come out as much
Speaker 1: as she would like to. When you're so busy and
Speaker 1: you're always doing a whole bunch of everything, sometimes it's
Speaker 1: good to just sit down and do nothing, to watch
Speaker 1: that movie for the hundredth of time, Like, yeah, watched
Speaker 1: the War War again. I feel like I feel like
Speaker 1: doing nothing makes me want to work hard again. So
Speaker 1: that's why I feel like I need to do nothing,
Speaker 1: because it reminds me that I do love working. Only
Speaker 1: will get more compile kid than once we have kids. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but I think I think kids are are different because instantly,
Speaker 1: whenever I've spoken to parents, it's like your life ceases
Speaker 1: to exist for you anymore. Your life is for your kids.
Speaker 1: So I don't I don't think i'd have it any
Speaker 1: problem sacrificing things that I enjoy for them. If it
Speaker 1: was really like, you can't tour for the next ten years.
Speaker 1: I'd be like, well, that's why I signed up for
Speaker 1: I've had kids, so true, you know, you could you know,
Speaker 1: there's lots of things that people have to stop when
Speaker 1: they have kids. Why'd you pick her for that particular record?
Speaker 1: Because I've really I really liked her album and became
Speaker 1: a fan from her from there. When I found out
Speaker 1: she was a fan of me, I then asked her
Speaker 1: to be on this because you can't ever assume that
Speaker 1: people just want to do records with you. What's the
Speaker 1: next one? Well, we yet, well we yat thousand Nights
Speaker 1: with Meek Mill and a Boogie. It is being off
Speaker 1: for a thousand night to me touring. You know, I've
Speaker 1: been on tour for I mean it's not technically a
Speaker 1: thousand nights but almost like seven eight, eight hundred knights
Speaker 1: on tour, so it's basically New York to London's different
Speaker 1: city every day. That all become a blur, to become
Speaker 1: redundant when you out there like that. It definitely did,
Speaker 1: Like so I don't really remember to twenty fourteen, two
Speaker 1: and fifteen, Yeah it does. It does all become a blur.
Speaker 1: But then I now bring my best friends on tour.
Speaker 1: So I've got four best friends out with me and
Speaker 1: we enjoy it all together now, so it's not really
Speaker 1: a blur because we remember going to nice dinners and
Speaker 1: then we go out to nice things and then go
Speaker 1: back to my hotel room and like, have a bottle
Speaker 1: of wine. Why did you grab Meek An a bookie
Speaker 1: for that record, because I don't think I don't think
Speaker 1: they can relate yet to that level of touring. Well.
Speaker 1: For me, originally, I had a different beata. I had
Speaker 1: a different beat originally, and when I've made the beat,
Speaker 1: it was and Meek actually said it when I played
Speaker 1: it to me, he was like, you know my tempo,
Speaker 1: and for me, it just sounded like a Meek song.
Speaker 1: It just sounded like a Meek song. I always try
Speaker 1: and go two verses. I always try and go for two,
Speaker 1: like twenty four bars and it's done sixteen butters, and
Speaker 1: it just seems too short. And I just thought a
Speaker 1: hoodie season and I thought I'd reach out to him.
Speaker 1: What's the next record? The next record is put It
Speaker 1: puts It All on Me with Lame You like this one?
Speaker 1: I like their torn yeah you front when you say
Speaker 1: it's hard to make records about love. Bro, that's another
Speaker 1: love record right there. And I've made so many records
Speaker 1: though for this project, so many, Like obviously now you're
Speaker 1: hearing the end products and you're like, oh, like it
Speaker 1: must be easy to write love songs. But I'd write
Speaker 1: so many songs and then I just picked the best ones,
Speaker 1: so then they end up being the good ones, the
Speaker 1: good the good love songs. But there, I like the
Speaker 1: Up Temple Love record all, like everything don't have to
Speaker 1: be thinking out loud. I'm I'm meThe Man and Mary J. Blige.
Speaker 1: All I need remix. That's what me and my wife
Speaker 1: dance to it all wdding you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: That's what's good to have those Up Temple Love records.
Speaker 1: Why you why DoD you choose Lam for that one? Well,
Speaker 1: I like the rest of the world. Herd boot up
Speaker 1: And then I found out she's from Mitchell in London,
Speaker 1: which blew my mind because I just didn't know she
Speaker 1: because like, it's so it's so rare, one for English
Speaker 1: people to have success in America, but two for people
Speaker 1: to have English people to have success in America before England.
Speaker 1: She's big there before, but before here, So I was
Speaker 1: intrigued by her anyway, but someone I knew had to
Speaker 1: contact for her. So when when we were making that song,
Speaker 1: I remember we were saying, what girl, what girl? Do
Speaker 1: we know that we could we could go on this,
Speaker 1: and me and Fred, who made the tune, were both like,
Speaker 1: we should get Lama and I was like, I know
Speaker 1: someone that knows her. So we had that wrapped up
Speaker 1: I think like within two days, because usually you do
Speaker 1: the song and then you have to get in touch
Speaker 1: with the artist and then it's finding a day to
Speaker 1: do a studio. We sent it off to Lma the
Speaker 1: day that we wrote it, and then I think she'd
Speaker 1: recorded her bits two days later. I don't even know
Speaker 1: she was from the UK till I heard her album, Yeah,
Speaker 1: because in between she's talking and you hear the accident yea,
Speaker 1: So I was like, oh, she's from the UK. I
Speaker 1: an't even realize it. Yeah, and she's she's super sweet,
Speaker 1: but I just didn't expect her to be English. She's
Speaker 1: got the same the same kind of thing that I
Speaker 1: was saying about Kalidas. There's a way that she sings
Speaker 1: and the riffs that she she she does she'll go
Speaker 1: hard and soft and hard and soft in her vocal tones.
Speaker 1: It's a kind of operatic, kind of a sort. I
Speaker 1: don't know if she's classically trained or not, but it's
Speaker 1: a very different way of singing. When you do a
Speaker 1: collad with somebody like Alameda, you feel the need to
Speaker 1: even in the future, can still leave say hey, I
Speaker 1: wrote this for you just to keep the London thing up. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't. I mean, like as I said yesterday, I
Speaker 1: mean like it depends on timings and stuff. But if
Speaker 1: anyone gave me their time to work on this, like
Speaker 1: I'm whether whether it just be any small favor in
Speaker 1: the future, I'm I'm always I'm always going to be
Speaker 1: there to do to do something or after this record,
Speaker 1: I'm going to go away for a bit. So I
Speaker 1: don't think we're going to be releasing anything like that.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I just really appreciate that people are giving
Speaker 1: me the time. You know. So this is feels with
Speaker 1: Young Thug and Jay Hussy. You're not doing these records
Speaker 1: because you know of who's hat. You're doing these records
Speaker 1: because you actually like these people. So what what did
Speaker 1: you like about a Young Dog? I mean, I felt
Speaker 1: I first heard him when he did the Rich Gang
Speaker 1: did a lot of shit, just a live stuff, and
Speaker 1: I didn't I didn't really get it. And then it
Speaker 1: was more I think it was that that that Jeffrey
Speaker 1: project that really made me understand it. And he's got
Speaker 1: he's got a tone that is sometimes you don't understand
Speaker 1: what he's saying, but it kind of like the way
Speaker 1: that he does it is just musical. Yeah, So I
Speaker 1: was always very intrigued to work with him. House is
Speaker 1: someone I've always wanted to work with. There's not really
Speaker 1: anyone like him in the UK industry, so in his
Speaker 1: own lane. The worst thing I find is when you
Speaker 1: have latantly like label things where it is just they
Speaker 1: leave like a sixteen at the end and it's the worst. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I never wanted to do that with House. I
Speaker 1: feel like, if you're going to do a song with House,
Speaker 1: it needs to fit in. I got his number and
Speaker 1: then my face timing. But usually every single person I've
Speaker 1: worked with, I've never not some sort of relationship with
Speaker 1: with with with them, So I hope I get to
Speaker 1: meet singles. I would think that's a difficult record to
Speaker 1: write because that's about heartbreak. Yeah, like you would love
Speaker 1: That was written from imagining what it would like now.
Speaker 1: Now it's all scenarios rather rather than like things that
Speaker 1: have actually happened in terms of like writing writing breakup songs.
Speaker 1: And I need you to dismiss those negative thoughts out
Speaker 1: in mine. Okay, I'm gonna tell you a person, like,
Speaker 1: whatever I want to happen, I constantly think about things
Speaker 1: I don't want to happen. I don't think about it
Speaker 1: at all. Are same. I know that my job is
Speaker 1: writing songs, So sometimes you just have to write songs,
Speaker 1: you know, Like people who write murder mystery books don't
Speaker 1: want to get murdered in their sleep. They're just they
Speaker 1: write books about murder. So that's not necessarily about you. No, No,
Speaker 1: that's that's like if it were to happen, that would
Speaker 1: be my reaction, and it's for whoever needs it, because
Speaker 1: somebody out there probably going through that. There's so many
Speaker 1: people that make songs that aren't necessarily reflecting the situation
Speaker 1: that they're in at that time. Oh, trust me, but
Speaker 1: we've all but we've all felt that. Yeah. I listened
Speaker 1: to a lot of hip hop. Okay, there's a lot
Speaker 1: of people saying some things that they are not really living. Yes,
Speaker 1: I get it. Well, it's rebably tallen on the road.
Speaker 1: Screw X, I mean i've I've I've worked with him before.
Speaker 1: We actually have a great fucking story about screw X.
Speaker 1: He came to Chicago to work on track. Afterwards he
Speaker 1: was like, let's go out to the bar. So just
Speaker 1: me and him and my touring crew went when out
Speaker 1: of this bar and he was like, fuck, man, this
Speaker 1: this bar sucks. Like the music, like the music is
Speaker 1: just not It was like they were I don't know
Speaker 1: what was happening, and he was just like, I got
Speaker 1: my laptop in my back, Shu, I just do a set.
Speaker 1: They were like okay, And so Screwlex got up in
Speaker 1: this like bar in the middle of nowhere in Chicago
Speaker 1: and just did a three hour set for anyone in
Speaker 1: the bar. And they just locked the doors and just
Speaker 1: kept every running. It was amazing. How did you know
Speaker 1: Dave was gonna be good for this record? Because everything
Speaker 1: I've heard from Dame that you let me here because
Speaker 1: you put me on a name, it was like deep. Well,
Speaker 1: I gave him, I gave him a deep song. I
Speaker 1: gave him the choice to two get because I really
Speaker 1: really wants to get him on the project. So I
Speaker 1: did two songs and he chose that one. But I think,
Speaker 1: you know, he's I think it's good to have him
Speaker 1: on something a little bit different because he does a
Speaker 1: lot of deep stuff for his stuff, yakul Amory no
Speaker 1: more than just music store. Right. Yeah, we did a
Speaker 1: love Music Hate Racism interview. I like that whole concept
Speaker 1: of the love love music heat reef. You know, with
Speaker 1: both from two totally different parts of England and from
Speaker 1: totally different backgrounds and coming together and just talking. It's
Speaker 1: good to show how it can be completely normal. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I met him. There's an awarch over here called the
Speaker 1: Ivan Novellos and they have like three main awards, like
Speaker 1: there's best Song, most Played Song, and then Songwriter of
Speaker 1: the Year and that's and and that's it. And he
Speaker 1: I won a song Likeright the Year and he won
Speaker 1: Best Song and the they're like really difficult with it.
Speaker 1: There's only like three of them. Yeah, they're really difficult
Speaker 1: to win. So I met I met him there and
Speaker 1: we kind of swapped emails and we've just been back
Speaker 1: and forth. I kind of like talking to I say,
Speaker 1: up and coming people, but I love I love the
Speaker 1: kind of new wave coming through and it was one
Speaker 1: of those things that I'm putting the projects together. It
Speaker 1: would just feel like a bit of a shame not
Speaker 1: to have him on it, so I'm glad we could
Speaker 1: make it work. The other artist is a guy from
Speaker 1: Argentina that I've recently become a fan of called Paolo
Speaker 1: Longer we got him on, really like him. Listen Man
Speaker 1: number six, Thank you for having me. Rong, nice one.